By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-9-22
Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn faced a strongly divided Senate Commerce Committee at the second hearing on her nomination to the agency’s open seat as the pushback from Republicans on her nomination continued.
Democrats spent their time having her back while Republicans fired away over various issues. Both sides conceded her extensive communications experience and her reputation as a brilliant and effective public interest advocate, but that is where the agreement basically ended.
While Democrats argued that the criticisms leveled by opponents of her nomination were part of a larger campaign by big media companies to “deadlock, disarm and disable” the FCC, Republicans used her offer to voluntarily recuse from retransmission consent and copyright issues related to shuttered TV-station streamer Locast raised multiple issues about bias stemming from her public advocacy background. » Read More